Thanks to Ken for inviting me to guest write in this space for a few days! ...Well, Ruth's commitment to down-in-the-dumps Naomi gets her no thanks and only the barest acknowledgement. We would have expected more; Naomi offers nothing. And on their return to her own country, Naomi, with Ruth standing right beside her, says to her old friends, 'I went away full, and now look: I come back with nada--zilch!' I'm sure Ruth apprectiated that.

It does not get much better from there for Ruth; at least not initially. At the beginning of chapter 2, Naomi is still little more than dead weight, offering very little help or encouragement. Things do begin to change, however, and on several fronts, during this chapter. Ruth's commitment to Naomi has set more things in motion than she has realized, which is what tends to happen with true commitments. Things begin to turn around for the good; but as we shall see in chapter three, Ruth's commitment will require more from her than patience, endurance, and hard work. Commitment will require of her, as it does of us, all of her wits and creativity. RS